Updated the link to a better source that gives a more detailed overview.
Headlines like this should be illegal.
Apple is forced by the EU to stop being a dick and open up their ecosystem. Apple is also purposefully making the experience so terrible that nobody will dare use it.
I hope the EU sues and bankrupts them.
Can’t wait to try a real Firefox (with Gecko) on iOS. Maybe it will be better than Safari in some regards, maybe not. But it will be nice to have more than one option to choose from.
Coming from apple, this means nothing.
In before accessing this new app store disables face unlock, NFC, the fingerprint sensor, and voids your warranty.
Yet again, we lack the only detail anyone actually cares about: how does Apple plan on actually limiting this functionality to the EU?
It’s difficult for me to imagine how they can comply with this in a manner which can’t be easily circumvented. It kind of bothers me that journalists just parrot “these changes will not be coming to jurisdictions outside of the EU” uncritically, seemingly just completely taking for granted the idea that there’s not going to be any way to benefit from this if you don’t live in the EU.
Devices are very strictly controlled on a hardware level for the market they are designed to operate in. It’s a requirement to obtain licensing for management of radio spectrum.
It’s trivial for iOS to check the internal hardware of any phone, see that it is an EU export model with all of thr Apple DRM active so you can’t fake it, and adjust accordingly.
Sure but they’re also sold secondhand. Also people can be born in one country, but move to live in another one. Apple’s DRM can’t be tied to hardware.
Also - what if a user doesn’t have an account with Apple at all? How can Apple know what country they’re from? Signing up for an Apple ID is optional when you setup an iPhone - you only really need one to access the App Store and there are now alternative methods available to install apps in the EU.
Sure but they’re also sold secondhand. Also people can be born in one country, but move to live in another one… bringing their devices with them. Apple’s DRM can’t be tied to hardware.
Why not? What happens in the examples you gave? The EU won’t forbid such devices entering the EU or they’d have to confiscate them off tourists. How many Americans do you know who have EU devices and vice versa? That issue may be negligible.
Sure but they’re also sold secondhand. Also people can be born in one country, but move to live in another one. Apple’s DRM can’t be tied to hardware.
Also - what if a user doesn’t have an account with Apple at all? How can Apple know what country they’re from? Signing up for an Apple ID is optional when you setup an iPhone - you only really need one to access the App Store.
i think it would be rather trivial for them to restrict features to secure (not rooted) devices connecting to eu towers via eu carriers (perhaps also owned by eu customers)
Not super familiar with EU law, but it was my understanding that a company that wants to be allowed to operate in the EU can’t just start violating an EU citizen’s EU granted rights just because aren’t literally geographically inside the EU at the time of the rights violation.
But you can use iPads and iPhones without a SIM card? I don’t think it’s trivial at all.
Yeah that’s what I’m curious about. I have a US apple account because that’s where I’m from, but I live in the EU and don’t really wanna change accounts or screw with anything.
So, the .5 per annual install for alternative marketplaces seems to be the stop gap, right? A popular FOSS store like f-droid would have to cough up thousands of Euros.
Would it be possible to sell an alternative marketplace for 1 Euro on the app store, pay Apple’s purchase commission and use the rest for the annual install fee?
A popular FOSS store like f-droid would have to cough up thousands of Euros.
They’re not big enough. This only applies to apps that are on 2% of all iPhones in the EU.
Apple may think they’re complying with the letter of the law but I suspect the EU will feel they’re falling far far short of the moral of the law.
They are also apparently requiring a €1,000,000 letter of credit for alternative app stores devs.
Oh, so THAT is the real stop sign they put in front of FOSS marketplaces. Thanks for the link!
That fee also applies to apps published on the app store.
If I understand correctly it only affects apps with more than 1 million annual downloads. I also don’t think it applies to marketplaces, only apps. So if fdroid had a marketplace, the devs would pay that fee and not fdroid.
This article says that the fee applies to every installation of a marketplace.
